The present disclosure generally relates to non-meat food products for humans or animals such as pets. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to non-meat food products having the appearance and the texture of cooked meat and also relates to methods for making such non-meat food products.
One of the primary nutritional features of meat is its protein content. However, the production of meat is relatively inefficient in terms of feed input to food output. Accordingly, non-meat food products can achieve a desired protein content using inexpensive by-products from certain crops such as soybeans. Furthermore, some individuals abstain from the consumption of meat for any of a variety of reasons. Moreover, many pet owners feed or wish to feed meatless diets to their companion animals.
Nevertheless, many of the existing non-meat food analogs are produced using extrusion or non-continuous processes. These existing processes produce texturized non-meat food products that do not mimic the texture or the taste of real meat products. As a result, consumers typically consider such non-meat food products to be unappealing and unpalatable.